


Build the Foundation

by madamewriterofwrongs



Series: Tumblr Posts [7]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Married Life, Miscommunication, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fill, Reconciliation, Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25861756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamewriterofwrongs/pseuds/madamewriterofwrongs
Summary: Eddie knows he needs to apologize to his husband, he just doesn't realize how much he misunderstood about what's got Buck so upset.A snapshot of married life with a hopeful future.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Tumblr Posts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875451
Comments: 14
Kudos: 264





	Build the Foundation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gracieli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieli/gifts).



> Prompt for gracieli: "Blowing a raspberry against someone's skin." This thing went absolutely sideways but I am so glad it did. 
> 
> Kudos/Comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> Check out my tumblr [madamewriterofwrongs](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/madamewriterofwrongs/blog/madamewriterofwrongs)

Eddie sighed when he entered the bedroom to find Buck curled away from him. It had been the silent treatment all day and frankly, it was getting a little tiring having to walk on egg shells around his husband. He’d wanted to apologize but Buck wouldn’t give him the time of day, it seemed: sitting across from him at lunch instead of at his side where he belonged, refusing to speak to him at work unless they were on a call (all Buck would tell the others was ‘he knows what he did’ and Eddie was not about to tell his friends what they were fighting about); he’d made the mistake of rolling his eyes when he thought Buck wasn’t looking and that had been a huge mistake.

Was it bad if all he wanted to do was kiss the pout off his face? He looked adorable when he was put out, how was he meant to resist those lips? It was those lips that he’d fallen in love with six years ago (the lips that had put him out of his misery when he’d stumbled through a proposal for a first date, and Buck had kissed him with a promise to pick him up at 8). How he loved those lips.

Again, not the response Buck had been looking for when he’d whined about Eddie being in the doghouse.

He was supposed to be sleeping on the couch tonight, but it was his bed after all. Just because Buck was grumpy with him didn’t mean he needed to forgo a good night’s rest. He wasn’t the 20-year-old, couch surfing for a week after he told Shannon he wanted to enlist in the army. His back would not survive another freeze out from his partner.

So, he’d just have to make amends, wouldn’t he.

Buck sensed his presence as soon as Eddie stepped foot in their room but didn’t turn around; the slightest tensing of his shoulders gave him away and he knew Eddie would notice, but still, he said nothing.

When Eddie crawled under the sheets and ran a firm hand around his stomach to pull him close, Buck stayed silent again.

When Eddie peppered light kisses behind his ear and down his neck, he felt the slightest hitch in his breath but otherwise, Buck continued to ignore his husband.

This called for desperate measures.

He brushed his lips along the skin he’d memorized with his fingers, and tongue and teeth so long ago, keeping each touch light and teasing. Buck always shivered when Eddie took his time leaving barely-there kisses – he was always too impatient and Eddie loved how easy it was to make his body twitch with anticipation.

As his ministrations swept over his husband’s shoulder and over his ribs, Eddie went in for the attack.

“What the hell, Eddie?”

Buck jumped into his arms at the sudden vibration against his skin, turning to look him in the eye for the first time in hours.

“It’s called a raspberry.” Eddie shrugged innocently, hiding his wicked smile of victory.

“I know what it’s called.” Buck shoved him towards the centre of the bed so there was some thinking space between them. “What are you doing?”

Admittedly, it was a bit of a childish move, but it had gotten him what he wanted so who was he to argue with the time-honored tradition?

“It’s how I get Christopher to smile after he’s being grumpy.” It was true, he hadn’t done it since the boy declared he ‘wasn’t a kid anymore, _dad_.’ – and Eddie had definitely cried a little at that – but he still had fond memories of the days when it was just the two of them, and he could easily pull a giggle from the boy he loved with all his heart.

Hopefully he could do it again.

The sound that fell from Buck’s lips was decidedly not a giggle, but closer to the frustrated sigh he saved for the days when words came harder.

“I’m not being grumpy, Eddie. I’m hurt.”

One look at Buck and he stopped his playful hopes. The way his eyebrows dropped and his pout had flattened into a clenched frown: he was upset. Not pouting for a little while until they both calmed down, genuinely upset with him. It didn’t make sense.

Eddie blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry I watched Master Chef Junior without you.” He tried to sound sincere but it still seemed a little ridiculous to him.

From the way Buck sat up on the bed, eyes stunned and searching his expression, that was not what he was expecting to hear.

“You think that’s why I’m mad at you?”

His only recourse was the shrug. What else could it be? He’d spent all day, assuming that the cold shoulder was for some minor indiscretion when clearly, there was something going on that he had no idea about. Eddie tried to search their recent history for the cause of their distance, but he came up with nothing.

Buck’s sigh contained multitudes of annoyance, and frustration, and anger. “I saw the letter you got yesterday. It was at the top of mail pile on your desk this morning while you were in the shower.” He spoke with so much intention of shame, which only made Eddie feel guilty for having no earthly idea what the hell he was talking about.

He sat up to match his husband’s position, begging to find his thread of thought. “I haven’t had a chance to go through the pile, yet” he explained.

There was something in Buck’s expression that startled him: sympathy, maybe? The rest was still covered in anger and disbelief; stunned and raw. “So you don’t know?” When Eddie shook his head slowly, Buck wound up for another accusatory glare. “They’re considering your offer.”

His stomach dropped. Buck knew. He was angry. Of course he was angry. They were considering his offer and he hadn’t even told Buck about it.

They were considering his offer!

“They are?” There was no hiding the excitement that coloured his words as he curled onto his knees. This was unbelievable – truly. It wasn’t a guarantee, obviously, but it was hope. He needed a little hope every once in a while and this was-

“So it’s true?”

Eddie pulled the breaks and gaped at the still frustrated Buck before him. Regret replaced his excitement; he’d done this all backwards.

“I genuinely didn’t think they’d take it seriously;” he quickly tried to reassure. “it was well below their asking price, but I just had to know if it was even possible.” Had to know if there was even a chance that he could have it all. And, apparently, the universe decided to grant him another mercy (the first was when Christopher was born, the second had been looking up to see a shower of gunfire lighting the sky, the third had been meeting Buck). Buck; whose expression was slowly fading into a pout that could easily be kissed away. 

“You did it without me, though.”

Eddie reached for his hands and his husband took them willingly, their wedding rings burning cold against their skin. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I know how much you liked it, and I really didn’t think they’d consider it.” It truly was a miracle that he’d received an accursed letter at all. If the price he paid for a bit of hope, was a day of misunderstanding, he would happily pay it. “Forgive me for keeping it from you?”

The coy look on his husband’s face as he squeezed his hands in response, made Eddie wary. “If you’ll forgive me for lying.”

Definitely wary. “What did you lie about?”

The shy smile burst into an open grin full of the joy he’d been missing all day. “They’re not considering your offer anymore. They accepted. I called Grace this afternoon.”

Not for the first time that day, Eddie felt his heart burst from his chest at the mental whiplash. The hope he’d held onto morphed into the exhilaration he hadn’t allowed himself to feel. They’d accepted his Hail Mary and Buck knew all about it. Christopher was going to be so…hold on. Eddie scrutinized his husband’s glorious expression. “But you were mad at me.”

Buck rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because I thought you knew why I was mad and just weren’t ready to apologize.”

Eddie snorted at him, even as he pulled Buck in for a long-awaited kiss; their reconciliation made sweeter by the prospect of this next step together.

He pulled away just far enough to stare into his husband’s eyes. “We got the house” he whispered, still in disbelief.

Buck came as close as he would to giggle at Eddie’s antics – a weighty chuckle in the darkness of their bedroom – and leaned in for another kiss. “We got the house.”

Their dream house; the one they’d viewed on their most recent day off, and had visions of waking up in the master bedroom, and building blanket forts in the living room, and making dinner as a family in the kitchen, and hanging art projects on the walls because nothing in a museum could match the master at home.

Buck’s excitement was palpable, vibrating out of his skin now that the secret had been reveal. “There’s still inspections and paperwork and a lot of headaches but if all goes well, we’ll take possession of the house about three months before the baby’s born.”

Three months to prepare their new home for an infant, lovingly surrogated and the addition to their family they’d been wanting on for years. Three months to move their teenaged son and entire life into a new home while maintaining their full-time jobs as first responders.

Eddie couldn’t care less.

Joy.

That was the only word to express the feeling in his chest at all the possibilities that lay before him and future he’d have with the man in front of him. The way everything felt bursting and yet settled with a confidence he didn’t always feel. But tonight, all there was, was joy.

“That’s not a lot of time.” He squeezed Buck’s hands.

His husband only had eyes for him, tenderly kissing their joined knuckles. “It’s enough.”

“More than enough” Eddie promised.

It was everything.


End file.
